Red Sox trophies leave park early

The Boston Red Sox were charged with an error yesterday at Grappone Park in Concord.

And because of it, their fans were shocked when they arrived expecting to see the three World Series trophies that the team has earned over the past 10 years.

Originally scheduled to be displayed from 9 a.m. to noon, several Red Sox employees slipped green covers over the shiny 24-inch, 30-pound trophies shortly after 11 a.m. and secured them with seat belts in an official team SUV, offering no explanation as to why they were leaving.

“I don’t know anything about that, sir,” said one official, when asked about their early departure. “We have a time schedule. We have no choice, sir.”

Joe Russell, the vice president of Concord Little league, which hosted the event, said the Red Sox announced the time change Thursday.

That was five weeks after the event, part of an offseason tour that covers all of New England, was announced to the Monitor in an email from Chris Brown, the president of New Hampshire Distributors Inc. and a Concord Little League board member.

About 150 people had already viewed the trophies by 10:30 a.m., said Concord Little League Secretary Sam Delgado.

The trophies, representing Boston’s World Series championships from 2004, 2007 and last season, were brought to the city to celebrate three anniversaries: the 75th for Little League International, the 65th for Concord Little League – created when the Concord American and National Leagues merged after last season – and the 50th for Grappone Park.

Boston’s three recent World Series trophies, displayed under a tent yesterday at Grappone Park in Concord, all looked the same. Upon closer inspection, however, the one on the left had “2004” inscribed on the bottom, and that represented a whole different ballgame. It marked the end of a curse and the start of a new era, reshaping and refueling optimism …